Pages

Saturday, May 19, 2012

Chicken Mole Torta (Mexican Chicken Sloppy Joes)

Ever since I got hooked on food blogs, in 2008, I rarely watch Food Network. One weekend morning, as I was folding laundry, I decided to click on Food Network.I've never watched "The Sandwich King" show (Next Food Network Star Winner "Jeff Mauro", Season 7). Jeff was making a Chicken Mole Torta, and I found that episode reeled me into watching him make a dish I have never tried before.

Mole (Mo-Lay) sauce is something very unique, and there are countless versions of how it's made. It's a recipe that Latin American families take pride in, and many are family heirloom recipes. I did a little research, and found a commonality in the traditional recipe ingredients-- chiles, sesame seed and/or almond, fruit, raisins and chocolate. I also needed diced tomatoes, tomato paste, chicken stock, garlic, onion, ground cinnamon and cloves.

Chocolate and chili sauce? Sounds a little weird, doesn't it? That's exactly why I couldn't wrap my head around ordering a Mole sauce dish at a Mexican restaurant. Until now. Ever since I became a "Food Blogger", I've opened up my palate to not shy away from trying new recipes.

I had just purchased Bone-In Chicken at Whole Foods. It was Cinco de Mayo weekend, so the decision was made. I was going to make this recipe. I already had most of the ingredients, and was pretty confident it would be good-- especially after reading all the five star ratings.

All I needed to buy were the Ancho Chilis. The Chilis were baked for a few minutes, then finely chopped and set aside.

I buy canned Chipotle Peppers in Adobo Sauce, and I rarely use them all at once. Chipotle peppers are smoked jalapenos, and I will warn you-- they do
pack a heat punch! I love spicy food, but I have to tone down the
heat. So that I don't waste the chipotle peppers, I freeze portions into small containers; they are easier to chop,
frozen, and I just toss them into my Mexican-themed recipes.

The prep work took close to 30 minutes, as I carefully measured and chopped my ingredients (a printable recipe card is at the end of this post). Once that work is done, the rest is pretty straight-forward, but it does require another 30 minutes of cooking and stirring.

Let's make Chicken Mole!

First, we toast the sesame seeds, and set them aside. Heat either peanut or vegetable oil in a Dutch oven
over medium heat. Add onions, a couple pinches of salt and saute
until soft, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes. The reserved
ancho chiles and minced chipotle are added, then cooked until fragrant, about 3 minutes. Now, for the the chocolate, cinnamon, cloves and garlic-- cook until the garlic
is fragrant and the chocolate is melted, about 2 minutes.

Place the mole into a blender
and puree until smooth, about 1 minute. TIP: I much prefer to use an immersion blender, because it's one less kitchen gadget to clean. Adjust the seasoning if
necessary. If using a blender, add the mole back to the Dutch oven. .

Sprinkle the chicken on
all sides with salt and pepper. Lay the chicken in the sauce in one
layer, making sure each breast is entirely coated, and gently simmer,
flipping once during cooking, until the breasts register 160 degrees F
on an instant-read thermometer, 20 to 25 minutes. Set aside off the heat
and let rest

Using your hands, remove the skin and meat from the bones and discard.

Shred the chicken into smaller chunks and place back into the mole to keep warm. Season if necessary.

At this point, you can serve this dish over brown rice, with a garnish of sour cream and fresh cilantro-- and an optional squeeze of lime juice. Delicious! This is how we enjoyed the leftovers on the following day. However, I chose to serve this as a "Torta" or Mexican Sandwich. In my previous posts, I shared how I made my own Mexican Bolillo Bread.

Any kind of sandwich rolls, would make a good substitute. Or, if you have a local Mexican bakery, buy a few and you won't regret it.

On a previous post, I shared how I made the tomatillo (green salsa) sauce-- which was really easy to make and adds a perfect tangy and ever-so-subtle spice to the sandwich. I debated on adding the refried beans-- for one thing, I do not like canned refried beans. To me, there is something unappetizing about how they look, and I haven't found one brand that is palatable to my Mexican DNA. However, I don't have a problem with keeping canned beans on hand-- they work great when I don't have the time to soak my own beans. I decided to make black beans instead of pinto beans. Here's my quick way of making my own fast refried beans:

In a skillet, I simply add a can of black (or pinto) beans with the liquid. Cook on medium high meat, so that the liquid will slowly evaporate. Mash and you're done in about five minutes! You can add additional seasonings, to your liking-- such as cumin or chili powder. This time, I left them plain.

Slather some refried beans on the sandwich roll, then add a mound of chicken mole, and some extra mole sauce...

Add sour cream, add some queso fresco (which I didn't, because I forgot to buy some), and top with pickled jalapenos (which I didn't do, but I'm sure would have been great for heat-loving folks), then add some fresh cilantro (my favorite).

...drizzle with tomatillo sauce

Serve with a pile of napkins, a cold Corona beer (optional, but recommend for those of you who are over 21) and dig in!

TASTING NOTES: Let's zero in on the mole sauce. This is an alchemy of so many different ingredients, that you cannot distinguish the independent flavors. Not one single ingredient over-powered the other. It's a beautiful reddish-brown sauce, with a slightly nutty flavor and you cannot tell that there's chocolate as a surprised ingredient. Sweet, spicy, nutty, slightly tomatoey-- just plain delicious! Where have I been that I missed out on the wonderful flavor of mole?!

As for the sandwich-- it's a messy affair, and one that my husband and I both enjoyed a lot. The next time I make this, I'm going to add a lot more heat to it by using an entire chipotle, and by making my own pickled jalapenos. I had fun learning how to make my own Bolillos, but I really liked this recipe just as a stew, served over brown rice.

You will find printable recipes for this mole at the end of this post. If you are ambitious enough, I recommend making the bread and the tomatillo sauce. Jeff Mauro-- I can see why Bobby Flay loved your recipes and why you were chosen as the winner. You do have a knack for great flavor. Well done!

That's a mighty tasty looking sandwich. I can just imagine it with all the layers of flavor. I, too, recently made a batch of mole and said to myself "why don't I do this more often?" Fortunately, I made a batch and have pulled out little containers from the freezer to flavor additional dishes.

It's been a long time since I've had mole. Lots of ingredients to this one. The sandwich looks just yummy! That's a great idea about freezing the chipotles... they are so difficult to chop right out of the can.

Wow! I can feel my cravings for this sandwich awakening just by looking at these pictures. So glad to have found your blog--and I saw in your About Me that you are a fellow central coastie! :) Great recipes!

Welcome!

Welcome to my internet kitchen. Please, sit back and relax, and watch me make delicious food and bakery recipes. Most of my recipes are simple, flavorful meals-- and a few baked treats. I focus on using fresh, seasonal ingredients and I try to avoid using boxed mixes and processed foods. I'm having fun learning how to cook like my grandmother once did-- from scratch! I hope that my step-by-step photos will inspire a timid cook to try them. Even if you're a seasoned cook, hopefully you'll learn a new tip or two.

If you have any questions,or just want to say "hello", please feel free to email me: foodiewife@gmail.com

Join Me On Facebook

Please respect my photo's copyrights!

Please be courteous. Don't steal my content!

Unfortunately, I am finding that my photos are being copied and used on other blogs. This makes my otherwise cheerful personality, very unhappy.If you'd like to use one of my photographs, all you have to do is email me at foodiewife@gmail.com. Please, do not use my photographs to represent a recipe that isn't mine, and without linking it back to me. Failure to use my work without my permission is copyright infringement. Thank you!

Looking for a specific recipe? Start here:

Loading...

Subscribe via Email

Enter your email address:

Please start your Amazon shopping here. I receive a small commission, at no extra cost to you!

Side Dishes

Perfect Potatoes Au Gratin

Grab A Button

Do you "Pinterest"?

Privacy Policy

This policy is valid from 30 August 2014

This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. This blog accepts forms of cash advertising, sponsorship, paid insertions or other forms of compensation.

The compensation received will never influence the content, topics or posts made in this blog. All advertising is in the form of advertisements generated by a third party ad network. Those advertisements will be identified as paid advertisements.

The owner(s) of this blog is compensated to provide opinion on products, services, websites and various other topics. Even though the owner(s) of this blog receives compensation for our posts or advertisements, we always give our honest opinions, findings, beliefs, or experiences on those topics or products. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely the bloggers' own. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer, provider or party in question.

This blog does not contain any content which might present a conflict of interest.